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the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
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the International Business Machines

This is a lesson plan on surface engineering, developed to help teachers integrate engineering practices in the secondary classroom. Students learn about nanotechnology and its application in developing hydrophobic surfaces. (Hydrophobicity is a physical property, and is defined as the tendency of a molecule to repel water.) Students work in teams to to design a roof from simple materials that will keep the contents of a box dry during a water test. The driving question of the lesson: How do civil engineers apply principles of nanotechnology to develop waterproof roofs?

This collection is part of TryEngineering.org, a website maintained by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Editor's Note:Hydrophobic molecules tend to be non-polar, whereas H2O is a polar molecule. Examples of hydophobic molecules include oils and fats. But as the size of objects is reduced to the nanoscale, the effects of surface properties become even more pronounced. To extend this lesson, See Related Materials for an article by the Nanoterra Group that provides information on newer applications of nanotechnology in surface design.

Standards (11)

AAAS Benchmark Alignments (2008 Version)

1. The Nature of Science

1B. Scientific Inquiry

6-8: 1B/M1b. Scientific investigations usually involve the collection of relevant data, the use of logical reasoning, and the application of imagination in devising hypotheses and explanations to make sense of the collected data.

1C. The Scientific Enterprise

6-8: 1C/M7. Accurate record-keeping, openness, and replication are essential for maintaining an investigator's credibility with other scientists and society.

9-12: 1C/H4. Science disciplines differ from one another in what is studied, techniques used, and outcomes sought, but they share a common purpose and philosophy, and all are part of the same scientific enterprise. Although each discipline provides a conceptual structure for organizing and pursuing knowledge, many problems are studied by scientists using information and skills from many disciplines. Disciplines do not have fixed boundaries, and it happens that new scientific disciplines are being formed where existing ones meet and that some subdisciplines spin off to become new disciplines in their own right.

3. The Nature of Technology

3B. Design and Systems

6-8: 3B/M2a. All technologies have effects other than those intended by the design, some of which may have been predictable and some not.

6-8: 3B/M3a. Almost all control systems have inputs, outputs, and feedback.

6-8: 3B/M4a. Systems fail because they have faulty or poorly matched parts, are used in ways that exceed what was intended by the design, or were poorly designed to begin with.

4. The Physical Setting

4D. The Structure of Matter

6-8: 4D/M1cd. Atoms may link together in well-defined molecules, or may be packed together in crystal patterns. Different arrangements of atoms into groups compose all substances and determine the characteristic properties of substances.

9-12: 4D/H8. The configuration of atoms in a molecule determines the molecule's properties. Shapes are particularly important in how large molecules interact with others.

9-12: 4D/H10. The physical properties of compounds reflect the nature of the interactions among its molecules. These interactions are determined by the structure of the molecule, including the constituent atoms and the distances and angles between them.

International Business Machines. TryEngineering: Waterproof that Roof!. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, December 4, 2010. http://www.tryengineering.org/lesson_detail.php?lesson=84 (accessed 3 March 2015).

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